More indoor and outdoor movement and activities around the area.
Sunbathing after breakfast while reading on the stroller. Barefeet while watching people. Swimming in adult pool with floaties. Learning to climb the stairs carefully. Driving around the area just the two of us with seatbelt on started here. Making mess at home. Practising piano on her own more often. Doing some voluntarily chores.
For the first time in four years (after marriage) without any single trips, we flew out of the city to visit Yangti. Then,luckily,(and crazily ),we flew further across the continent to the city I had been longing for a long time.
This was the period where I received the return of investing a lot of time and energy to make two basics things right during the first year.
Seven days in my dream city showed it clearly how she enjoyed everything offered in her plate, sat down properly, and finished everything.
I would never forget the smile given from an old lady in Brioche Doré Champ Ellysées when she looked at her enjoying a plate of curry chicken poulet eagerly.
Certified eat-like-french baby she was!
Sleeping also wouldn’t miss the opportunity to show its result. At first, I thought it was impossible. But, she slept at exactly at 8 pm and woke up just at the same time as she did in Jakarta, and later, in any places we visited. No matter the weather.
For some people,it’s weird. For us,it’s great!
Having both on time and as scheduled as we are at home make us mostly enjoyed holiday leisurely without dealing with a cranky baby and gratefully, without once until now, post holiday sickness .
This year also was the period where language problem detected and consulted right away.
One key point from this year : no matter how hard you try, there would be so many things outside your control.
When we saw something that didn’t feel right, dropped the ego, let go that denial, consulted it right away.
Never miss the opportunity for having early intervention. It made all the difference.
I am talking as someone whose having adequate experiences in dealing with therapies, shitty therapists, and knowledge about the hidden disabilities that could happen to everyone.
Never knew it was the beginning of another long journey.
Reaching the first seven years is something. A little thing to celebrate this huge milestone through something that I know best. So here we go.
Unlike the ‘tricky’ pregnancy, her delivery was too ‘quick and easy’.
Visited the hospital for reguler check up. Turned out she was on the way. Then everything escalated quickly. Water broke in 2 hours. Delivery started at the exact time like a name we prepared for her. Became a mother 3 weeks early than expected. Returned home 3 days later as a family.
“There is no jobs that is equally taxing and emotionally draining than parenting in the first year”. -What to Expect The First Year-
Then, real life began.
First months of motherhood were hell.
Took care of three men, a newborn baby, and a whole house was crazy. The sleep deprived, the exhaustion were no joke.
When you thought things couldn’t be worse, that was the time it could go worse. Mbak Wi suddenly resigned after 21 years.
The Boss up there thought I could handle some more, so, on the second month, He sent the father away for A WHOLE MONTH to a secluded village. He was rarely at home because of his residency during junior years, now he was completely absent for a whole month. I was very much a single parent with a newborn, an elder carer, house caretaker, and part time teacher.
The most depressing period in the first year.
Returned to work at the second month, because having no money was scarier than the exhaustion and the strong urge to breathe properly, being away from everything at home for a while.
He being sent to secluded village and the following month would be another internship outside the main hospital meant there was no income. We were lucky that the delivery was pretty smooth, prepared the money for c-section but the baby chose the other way, zero charge for the labor, only used 1/3 from what we prepared. Maybe He knows we would need it few months later.
Neither good days or bad days stay forever.
Things got better in term of sleep deprived at three months when she finally could sleep a whole night like the science said. Those struggles and stubborness to teach her sleep every single night paid off. The routine ‘day starts before subuh and ends right after isya’ began here.
Things were better at the fourth and fifth, signed by returning to the exercise class, until feeding came at the sixth.
The second biggest homework : eating. I knew already it would be hard, but didn’t expect it would be so hard. Fruit at 5.30, breakfast at 7, lunch at 12, dinner at 17. No snack-snack club. Prepared everything from the scratch, in normal days, shift started at 4, in meal-prep day, shift started at 2. Exercise class once again given up.
Two first months of feeding was easy peasy, exploring kinds of menu was quite fun, until the texture changed. Dealing with longer meal time because she learned to chew. It was exhausting. Running out of patience was unavoidable. But, still kept showing up for three big meals plus a small one on time, everyday.
Here came another witch, her weight that seemed so stuck no matter how strict I was with the meal. So, who said your efforts wouldn’t beat the result? It would, for the short term.
There was always silver lining. Although it was hard, at least, there was no period that she wouldn’t eat. She just ate no matter how long she kept every scoop in her mouth. She ate everything that served in front of her. Some she loved, some she didn’t, but it wasn’t problem. She just tried everything. From ikan cuek to ikan lele, tumis tauge to tumis pare, oatmeal ubi to mac n chesse. Lucky she didn’t have any allergies.
In feeding, I rarely compromised in terms of schedule and food. I didn’t listen to anyone who said “maybe it doesn’t taste good”, “just feed it later on the restauran we go”. Never. She should eat at home right before anything else. Because, It was me who needed to eat at the restaurant.
In dealing with sleep and eat, other than the thought that it wouldn’t last forever, the thought of my sanity also worked. I needed to be functioned well to take care her well. So, doing the right over easy for the short term was the only way to go.
Didn’t remember when it was suddenly getting easier. Feeding hour was getting shorter and play time was longer. Morning routines (fruit, breakfast, bath) all done before 8.
Finally managed to return to the exercise class since she was sleeping right after that. Things that made me five times happier.
More rainbows after the storm, Mbak Wi also made a comeback, the doctor’s shifts were getting better, left her during my work days felt lighter because it was her nap time and the work place was only five minutes by walk. Feeding her right after work was exhausting but knowing my korean drama friends waiting at 7.30 was exciting.
Sleep well.
Eat everything.
Fully breastfeed without any supports.
Thus, in the first year, we managed to have zero medecine intake.
Sudden idea came up on Thursday morning after checking both the doctor and little girl’s schedule. Planned to take her to another park and outdoor, but with more refined idea. This is why sudden plan sometimes is the best. Everything had just planned after subuh and executed right after Zuhur.
The idea just came without knowing the ABRSM exam result. Then when I knew such result, this sudden break became more “justified”, haha.
We stayed in a middle level service hotel right in front of the park, enjoyed playing, scootering and skateboarding in the park for two days in the row, dinner in an authentic japanese restaurant, resting and just doing nothing (other than taking pictures).
We were so lucky to have blue sky on Friday morning. It has been shades of grey, rainy and foggy for days.
You tend to find ways instead of excuse for the things that you consider important. For me, in the current situation, where schedule is packed, leave is far from generous, worked 7 days a week is common for the doctor, going somewhere too far is not visible, making time to rest for a while becomes the only thing that we could do.
The reason why now we couldn’t plan anything big in advance because there’s no certainty in current schedules. Weekend booked by shift schedule or endless zoom meetings. So, when I saw it was possible for us to have a little break somewhere near with reasonable budget, I felt like we need to take it.
(What an excuse. You just had break last month!)
But, but, we got to celebrate months of hardworks paid with distinction result in an international exam!
Well then, since being tourists in other country is still impossible, let’s just be ones in our own city!
There are times when your daily hardworks rewarded enormously.
Today is one of them.
The doctor called for so many times this morning but I was still doing things here and there. When I called back, he said he wanted to show me something.
He sent the capture of an email from Royal College of Music (ABRSM) grade 1 performance exam that the little girl took last month.
It has DISTINCTION on it.
The more unbelievable thing is the score.
147/150. Got 30/30 in three pieces. 29/30 for overall performances.
I couldn’t get enough reading the narration on the paper.
I know it’s a bit tacky. But, for now, just let it be. Not everyday you got a distinction from an important exam.
Up until yesterday, the chores that L has been doing only covered around her own things. Wash her own dishes, wash, hang, and fold her own laundry, make her bed, and tidy up her room. It’s been a while since I am thinking to upgrade her chore to involve things she does for others too.
After watching the morning flow for months, I found something that is pretty doable for her. Delegating a little of my morning task would be a good idea. It could start at the weekend only where she has more free time in the morning.
Fruit bowl is our compulsory breakfast. One third of my weekly groceries budget spent on fruits. Every morning, I make three fruit bowls for each one of us. It contains at the maximum four kind of fruits, at the beginning of the week, and two kinds at the end of the week.
So, I told her this Monday that starting this weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, she would be the one who took care of morning fruit bowls. On Friday, I asked her to write down the plan, what fruits she would put for that two days based what we had on the fridge.
Have a colorful weekend!
The nicest thing of teaching new things to the children at her age is, they’re so eager about that. There’s no slightest rejection tone from her mouth, only excitement.
Although in practice it wasn’t as easy as it looked, but still, new experience was always exciting. She did the first days of the new job quite well.
We could consider a household like an entreprise and houseworks/chores as projects. I could consider myself as a mommy manager who is in-charge of many projects and doing the four functions of management (POAC) daily.
Now, for one little project on the weekend, I have the first three functions (planning, organizing, and acting) done by my subordinate and only in charge for the controlling part.
Thus, I don’t listen to those who said ‘what’s the degree for if you ‘just’ stay at home?’
All the learnings I had done in both of my bachelor and master degrees are aplicable in almost all situations in the daily life and I use, appy, and pass it to the one who needs it the most, very well.
Salah satu berkah dari pandemi yang dirasakan adalah bagaimana itu membawa perubahan besar sekali dalam hal pendidikan. Terutama yang terjadi di rumah. Pandemi ini membuka mata bahwa banyak hal tentang pendidikan ini yang sebenarnya ada di tangan kita sendiri dan bukan di tangan guru dan kurikulum sekolah.
Pandemi ini buka banyak kesempatan untuk belajar tanpa batas, baik waktu dan tempat, dengan orang-orang dari berbagai jenis di seluruh dunia dan ini menyenangkan sekali.
Saat ini komposisi pendidikan yang dijalani L adalah 75% kurikulum pribadi dan 25% dari sekolah. Saat ini, sekolahnya lebih mirip dianggap kaya ekskul dibanding yang utama. Apa yang didapat dari sekolahnya saat ini lebih untuk mengatasi apa yang dia ngga bisa dapat dari rumah seperti sosialisasi dengan teman seumurnya, sedangkan di rumah fokus ke hal-hal untuk mengeluarkan kelebihan, mengajarkan hal yang lebih penting seperti cara berpikir dan membangun kebiasaan-kebiasaan baik.
Salah satu fokus yang orangtua sering lupa adalah kita bukan hanya membesarkan anak tetapi juga mempersiapkan mereka buat jadi orang dewasa. Oleh karena itu, selain belajar, L juga punya tugas lain di rumah yang berhubungan dengan pekerjaan rumah tangga seperti cuci piring, mengoperasikan mesin cuci, menjemur dan melipat bajunya sendiri, merapikan tempat tidur sendiri, dan akan terus ditambah seiring waktu.
Dari awal, seperti yang pernah saya tulis di post sebelumnya, saya punya tiga tujuan besar yang saya ingin ada di anak saya :
– self discipline (ngga nemu kata di bahasa Indonesia yang pas untuk ini) untuk dirinya sendiri.
– empati untuk berhadapan dengan orang lain.
– literasi untuk memahami banyak hal di hidup ini.
Tiga hal itu menjadi dasar untuk menjalani kegiatan sehari-hari seperti pernah ditulis di salah satu post ini.
Untuk kali ini, saya mau review tentang tiga aplikasi utama yang sudah kami pakai selama kurang lebih 1,5 tahun ini.
1. Numbots
Ini adalah aplikasi untuk matematika khusus buat penambahan dan pengurangan. Terdiri dari beberapa level dari yang paling mudah sampai yang sulit.
Salah satu point penting dari aplikasi ini adalah repetisi. Satu topik yang sama bisa dibuat di beberapa level dengan cara yang berbeda. Buat kami ini menarik karena repetisi adalah kunci untuk membuat suatu hal menjadi permanen di dalam otak. Dalam hal apapun, termasuk belajar matematika.
Fokus kami bukan tentang seberapa banyak level bisa dihabiskan atau seberapa banyak koin yang bisa dikumpulkan, tapi seberapa konsisten game ini dimainkan dalam jangka waktu yang lama.
Selama kurang lebih 1,5 taun terakhir, dia sudah menyelesaikan 12 dari 18 tahap Numbots yang tersedia. Untuk menyelesaikan satu tahap, dia harus melewati 80-90 level kecil untuk setiap tahap.
Badge terakhir : 365 hari berturut-turut
Awalnya, aplikasi ini diberikan gratis dari sekolahnya di London ketika awal pandemi. Setelah setahun lebih konsisten menggunakan ini sampai kami kembali ke Jakarta, karena khawatir history dia hilang karena sudah bukan murid sekolah tersebut, kami memutuskan untuk pindah ke akun keluarga dengan biaya pribadi.
Buat kami pribadi, harga yang dibayar bukan hanya yang tertera di atas. Untuk harga tersebut, kami terbebas dari sakit kepala mengajarkan matematika dengan cara yang tidak menyenangkan, membuat anak belajar matematika setiap hari tanpa drama.
Dan ini bisa untuk beberapa anak sekaligus. Jadi buat yang punya anak usia berdekatan, makin oke lagi valuenya. Juga bisa dibagi dengan sepupu yang seumur.
(Enak bukan, ibu-ibu?)
2. Time Table Rockstar
Nah, ini adalah kakaknya Numbots. Numbots dan TTRS ini games dari developer yang sama dengan fokus yang berbeda. Kalo Numbots fokus di penambahan dan pengurangan, TTRS fokus di perkalian dan pembagian.
Seperti Numbots, TTRS juga terdiri dari berbagai level di setiap tahap. Kalo di Numbots untuk maju ke level berikutnya perlu menjawab dengan hasil minimal 2 bintang (yang ditentukan oleh kecepatan menjawab), kalo TTRS, ditentukan oleh soal yang bisa dijawab dengan benar dalam waktu 1 menit. Dibutuhkan minimal 20 jawaban benar untuk lanjut ke level berikutnya. Kalo ngga sampe 20 jawaban benar, harus ulang lagi.
Kalo bisa jawab 20, tulisannya continue. Kurang dari 20, play again.
Sekali lagi, kuncinya di game ini adalah repetisi. Jadi beda level bisa tentang soal yang sama dan berulang, dengan metode yang beda.
Fokus di TTRS ini adalah perkalian 1-12.
Biaya per tahun
Untuk saat ini, kami lebih pilih fokus dengan dua aplikasi ini untuk training matematikanya dibanding membayar ke lembaga les tertentu.
3. Epic!
Selain Numbots, ini adalah legacy lain dari sekolahnya di London. Kalo Numbots untuk matematika, ini adalah untuk membaca. Fokus pendidikan usia dini di sana cuma tiga : math, reading, writing. Jadi semua sumber daya untuk tiga hal tersebut berlimpah. Ngga ada PR lain selain membaca, setiap hari.
Ini juga hal yang mau kami tetap jalankan setelah pulang ke Jakarta.
Epic! ini seperti Nettlix untuk buku. Tersedia beribu buku dari semua topik dan untuk berbagai level pembaca. Buat yang belum lancar buku ada fitur read-to-me. Buku-bukunya juga menarik dan selalu diupdate. Ada Epic! Original series, kaya Netflix banget kan?
Statistik setelah 1,5 tahunBisa liat reading history
Buat kami, Epic! ini value for moneynya tinggi sekali. Kebiasaan bacanya dapet, kaya kamus kecil dengan penjelasan komprehensif untuk berbagai topik dan pertanyaan, ngga perlu space buat menyimpan bukunya terutama buat yang tinggal di ruang kecil dan masih pindah-pindah seperti kami. Harga yang dibayar buat semua keuntungan di atas Rp 140.000/BULAN.
Jadi, bukan per tahun ya buat Epic! ini.
Selain tiga aplikasi ini, kami juga sangat bergantung pada banyak aplikasi menarik buat pelajaran musiknya. Beberapa aplikasi musik yang rutin dipakai : Pitch Ear dan Piano trainer.
Salah satu privilege besar yang L punya itu adalah punya dua orang tua yang sama passionatenya di banyak hal untuk pendidikannya. Semua aplikasi baik buat belajar ataupun game, itu hasil kurasi ayahnya yang bukan sekedar asal unduh, tapi diliat dan dicoba satu persatu, kadang ditonton dulu tutorial dan reviewnya.
Semoga review ini bisa membantu dan makin banyak orang yang pakai tiga apps berguna ini!
Done with telling her happy experience at school yesterday , out of the blue, after some period of silence, something came from her mouth,
“When I am older, I’ll have a husband”.
(Stay calm)
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll get married and have a husband”.
(What’s with this sudden idea?)
“Wait until I park the car and we talk about this”.
Glad when this happened it was already near home. It was such a distraction during driving. Off-record convo kept going until we arrived at the parking lot.
Asked the main idea again once the engine was off.
Even asked her once again to get to know what’s her main idea to blurt out such thing suddenly.
A serious talk in a car park
Did I say “gentar” is the word to describe the end of the first 7 years?
This kind is one of the reasons why.
To fully accept and realize that she is no longer a little baby.
To answer many questions without preparations.
To deal with many hard conversations to come.
I don’t know whether it’s the right thing to do or not, as someone who is being next to her most of the time, I almost always take her questions seriously.
So, instead of telling her that this is not something to talk about on her age, I am more eager to know what’s on her mind and how much she could elaborate, in spite of her limitations in language and understanding.
More than worry, I was actually quite happy having this convo because this means she could talk freely about everything on her mind with me. Something that we definitely need in future years to come.
Also a reminder to not underestimate my child for something that she is capable of thinking and doing despite her age and conditions.
Like being capable of describing the qualities she wants for her future partner to the flowers she would like to have for the wedding.
May Allah grant her good wish and grant me (and her dad) more patience and better guidance to walk this journey safely.
At first, the decision to send her to a non-religious school gave certain guilty feeling inside. It was among many (important) things that didn’t go according to initial plan.
But then, since when (big things in) life goes according to your plan?
Never mind. The more important thing is while the goal should be rigid, the strategy needs to be fluid.
The bright side of choosing non-religious school where religious study is not the main menu (and far from adequate), it opens many opportunities to explore other possibilities of good teachers.
Done with a Quran teacher, next searching that I have been doing for months is a (proper) Islamic teacher.
When gender is not a problem for the Quran teacher, as long as the person is qualified and speaks English well, which we go with a male teacher, for Islamic, I strictly want a female teacher.
Why female teacher? Because she will soon go to puberty, where many drastic changes would happen. A period of many turbulences which she needs someone to hold on to, to share things with other than her parents (since maybe the parents would be one that she would have conflict with), someone who understands what she has been going through, more importantly, someone with proper knowledge about the know-how according to our religion. For me, that’s one important thing that I surely couldn’t handle alone.
Been looking around, reading many profiles, did some trials and not working well, until I bumped into a good looking profile in one of the platforms on the internet.
Sent short paragraphs of introduction explained what I looked for, what kind of lesson I expect to have and the learning purpose. Explained thoroughly about her condition and my expectations.
A reply received in an instant. The conversation went well and the first meeting set up right away.
Alhamdulillah, the first lesson done as good as expected. On time, well-prepared, and I loved how the lesson delivered.
Hopefully, the relationship will be as good as the first lesson.
It takes a village to raise a child. Surround her with good and qualified teachers on the subject that we consider important and where the parents don’t have adequate knowledge about, is part of our efforts to provide proper village for her to grow.
(Switch to Bahasa mode)
Menuju periode 7 tahun kedua, hati makin berat dari sebelumnya. Kenapa? Karena sadar ilmu yang diperlukan buat menghadapi periode ini masih jauh dari cukup.
Menghadapi 7th pertama yang udah belajar teorinya jauh sebelum prakteknya aja masih banyak ‘miss’-nya. Apalagi ini, yang baru mulai ‘serius’ belajar beberapa tahun terakhir.
Di parenting Islam, 7th pertama anak adalah raja (master) yang bebas tanpa tugas, main tanpa batas, masuk ke 7th kedua anak adalah ‘slave’ (once elaborated here).
Waktu dimana sudah harus belajar disiplin, ilmu yang baik, punya kewajiban dan tanggung jawab, bahkan boleh dipukul jika umur 10 tahun tidak melaksanakan kewajibannya.
Usaha mencari guru ini yang terlihat buat ngajar anaknya, tapi tujuan utamanya adalah buat ngajarin orangtuanya. Menghadirkan guru buat anak lebih untuk supaya orangtuanya lebih punya ilmu yang benar buat menghadapi ‘battle’ yang akan lebih berat dari sebelumnya.
Seperti dokter yang harusnya lebih tau dari pasiennya, bos lebih jago dari bawahannya, masuk akal kalo tuan harus lebih pinter dari hamba sahayanya. Jadi, ngga ada cara selain belajar lebih keras dari sebelumnya. Anak-anak itu fast learner, yang lambat itu orangtuanya.
Hari-hari menuju akhir 7th pertama, hati lebih sering gentar dari sebelumnya.
It was during writing time with the little girl when suddenly such view appeared by the window. We stopped doing what we did and watched my second favorite nature view (after sunset) until they disappeared.
One said that rainbow comes to apologize for the angry skies. Thinking about that, it might be true. The sky had been so grumpy for hours that day. Then suddenly, these beauties appeared and made us smile.
This felt like a little present on this birthrday month. It’s been the period without daily sunrise nor sunset view for the past months, so having such view cured the longing a little bit.
As usual, never write on the exact date of the birthday. But, what is birthday without the sentimental thought that keeps pondering on your head?
The time of the year where I have always looked back, not one, but ten years behind. I often judge my life within the period of ten years, because less than that, the span would be too short to evaluate and allow some big changes happen in life.
I once read, which again, I forgot where or who (tried to google it with different kind keywords but found nothing), that 27 is the year when you make some important decisions of your life. It was kind of true for me.
(Wait, are you saying you are 27?!)
Bien sur que non, mes amies.
That 27 years old was the time when I started executing my 20’s big dreams. The first two were granted on that age. It was also the age when I took a leap of faith to make one of the most important decisions in one’s life. Marriage.
Life happened incredibly on 27. The ups and downs were beyond crazy. Gained two big dreams and another huge thing in life equaled to lost three VIPs in my life. All happened in that ONE YEAR.
That 27 was a huge milestone when I started viewing life from a totally different angle.
Took off from 27, life began its real courses.
I have been a wife, a primary caretaker and bread winner, a mother, a small bussiness owner, a teacher, a housewife, an avid lifelong learner. I had ticked my third big 20s dream beautifully, ended my 15 years of works on high notes, started different set of life abroad, a volunteer, and one of the highlights was, put a heavy reader name tag back on my chest after years of being in the slump.
For these 10 years, the heart had been through so much. From utmost betrayal to the worst broken heart. Standing up again and again after falling for so many times, refused to give up for something that I stubbornly believed. Slowly cured, forgave, and moved on from the (many) wounds in the past.
And, here I am, ten years from that 27.
I looked back to those ten years behind with heart full of immense gratitude for every experience and learning beyond my wildest imagination. I am overwhelmed with abundance of blessing that Allah bestowed upon and me and my family.
Still have many rooms for improvements, occupied by insecurities here and there, but overall, I am beyond grateful to be in a better place than ten years ago.
When I said above that I started seeing life in a totally different angle since 27, ten years later, I still stan with that angle, only with more clear view. It’s the same angle J.K. Rowling used to write her life time bestseller Harry Potter. She started with how it would end.
So, whenever many insecurities creeped in, I asked myself, if the time is up, who and what would be my biggest concerns?
The answers become the compass to arrange my priorities on daily basis.
That way, I hope to continue living this borrowed-life meaningfully and would return it with the least regrets. Amin.
No other hopes in positivity tone?
Sorry, I am a pessimist. I am scared, anxious, and too careful more than it is shown.
I prefer to keep my seatbelt fasten all through the journey.
So, whenever turbulence appears, at least, I would be on the least level of ready 🥂 .
It was almost 11 pm and the mind was still dealing with the some noise inside regarding the big match that meant a lot for this country.
Surely won’t discuss how the team beautifully fought and got the best result, but more of what happened during one of the matches.
It was almost 8 pm and we had done with the last prayer. Bedtime for the little girl.
We (mostly me) always accompany her for bed time stories everyday. But, that time, none of us, both her parents, wanted to move from our seat.
Her dad told her to sleep first by herself and after some good night kisses with him, she went to her room, without said much and looked at me at all.
I kept watching until few minutes later and then decided to leave my spot and went to her room.
She was lying around with eyes opened, looked so restless, and was busy wiping her eyes when she saw me coming.
I hugged her and asked if she was okay and answered :
“I am so sad no one wants to accompany me”.
“I know, right? But, I am coming. The match is so important, but you are far more important”.
The tone suddenly changed and she picked the storybook we haven’t finished for days. We only read few pages but that was more than enough to switch the voice and situation from going to sleep with awful mood to a happy one.
I stayed a little bit longer till I bid good night.
When I return to the couch, the match was still on the run, with no significance difference from when I left.
Watching the rest of the matches enjoyably till the end result.
Along the final matches, the players made lots of small mistakes, some were pretty frustrating, but there were certain critial moment, that they should make it and earned important points, because it made all the difference. Like getting to 11 first on the rubber set, because most of the time, one who got to 11 first on the rubber set won the game. Most of the time, not always. The decider player last night didn’t get to 11 first yet he won the match. But, it was rare. Most of the time, it has always been the one who got 11 first on the rubber, win the match.
Maybe it feels similar to parenthood. Along the journey, you’ll make lots of mistakes, wrong your child, but there are certain moments, that you can’t mess up, as long as you have the choice. In one of my readings which I couldn’t remember who or where, there are three critical periods in children daily life where being next to them would be an advantage : wake up time, after school, and before bed time.
I was glad I chose to come to her. Had I decided to keep watching, I might not miss the athletes made some points but, I would indeed miss bigger and critical points from someone who is absolutely more important than the athletes on the screen.
Having someone left their seat during the match wouldn’t change the result. No one will notice or don’t have a slightest care about that.
But, by doing that, it surely made a huge difference for the little girl’s mood result. She might remember it for some time such feeling, the bad or the good, depended of what the choice we made last night.
In the end, both circumstances wrapped beautifully.
The mens group lifted the trophy beating the Chinese group in three straight matches, after long years of waiting.
While me, I managed to lift up my little girl’s mood and prevented her from going to sleep with such awful feeling, after beating myself and warned the brain to not to mess up with the priority.
A Penny for My Pensieve 